Research Project
AGORA project fosters European climate resilience through collaboration and community-based adaptation. It co-designs and implements tailored solutions, engages stakeholders, and promotes climate justice, empowerment, and societal transformation aiming for a climate resilient Europe with innovative approaches and effective policies.
Research Project
CORE addresses SU-DRS01-2018-2019-2020 call for disaster-resilient societies. It analyzes natural & anthropogenic risks (earthquakes, tsunamis, fires, floods, terrorist attacks, industrial accidents, Covid-19). It focuses on vulnerable populations, preserving dignity & autonomy during emergencies. It investigates social media's ethical impact on autonomy, dignity, equity, & well-being as well as aims to provide recommendations for improved preparedness & resilience, considering human and social characteristics.
Research Project
Horizon Europe: Link4Skills is a global project addressing skill shortages through four processes: upskilling established populations, raising wages, automation, and migration. It spans Europe, Africa, Asia, and America, analyzing skill shortages and flows. The project includes the development of an AI-Assisted Skill Navigator for stakeholders in employment and vocational training organizations across origins and destinations
Research Project
SEED MICAT - Support Energy Efficiency Deployment with the Multiple Impacts CAlculation Tool, aims to help EU and member states at national, regional and local governance levels in including Multiple Impacts (MI) in their implementation of the Energy Efficiency First (EE1) principle. Basing this on strong and reliable analytical tools, "sowing thus the seeds" for a broad application of the principle.
Considering MI in target setting argues for a fast phase-out of fossil fuels but also for a careful analysis of MI related to different pathways to climate neutrality, with varying contributions from energy demand and energy supply options.
Therefore, the project extends its MI framework to include renewable energy sources, advocates integrating policy modules, and showcases how it applies at different levels. SEED MICAT also includes replication analysis, capacity building, and a strong dissemination approach to promote knowledge on implementing the EE1 principle.
Research Project
In the A-LEVERS project funded by the Austrian Climate Research Programme (ACRP), IIASA researchers contribute to the development of a methodological framework for prioritizing adaptation options. Collaborating with the University Graz, GeoSphereAustria, and experts, they derive adaption pathways for key climate-related risks for Austria.
Research Project
The Citizens for Copernicus (C4C) project, coordinated by the IIASA Novel Data Ecosystems for Sustainability Research Group in the Advancing Systems Analysis Program, aims to develop an Austrian citizen science data component to bridge the in situ data gap for more reliable forest mapping with Copernicus data. The project focuses on the combined use of citizen science and satellite images to develop AI models for forest resource (biomass/carbon) monitoring.
Research Project
MultiFutures systematically broadens the scope for policy action towards sustainable societies by assessing and developing transition scenarios based on alternative economic paradigms. This involves extending established transition scenarios (e.g. the EC's 'Long term strategic vision' scenarios or the IEA’s net zero scenarios) to include alternative economic paradigms that are based on a wide spectrum of sound economic and social theories and have demonstrated potential to address global challenges. These paradigms introduce new policy options and instruments, which we aim to critically assess regarding their relevance, effectiveness, and potential trade-offs.
Research Project
This project aims to capture the medium to long-term spillover effects of financial markets and related stakeholders such as regulatory institutions on climate relevant emissions from land-use and changes to its pattern. Previous research has emphasized the spillovers of shocks, volatilities, and policy decisions from financial markets to commodity prices and thus on agricultural decisions. However, the long-term impacts of these spillovers, in terms of emissions have not been explored yet in a systematic global manner.
Research Project
PHOENIX (Human Mobility, Global Challenges and Resilience in an Age of Social Stress) is a Belmont Forum funded project that aims to examine how Global Changes - including environmental and climate changes, demographic changes, changing consumption patterns, energy and land-use, developments in the politics of food and mental health, and socio-cultural transformations - impact mobility.
Research Project
The project Data-driven understanding of low-carbon lifestyles (LOW-AI) aims at using social media data to understand behavior change with respect to low-carbon lifestyles. In order to limit global warming to a safe level of 1.5℃, individual action is required. LOW-AI deploys social media data to monitor lifestyle changes and attitudes towards lifestyle changes in the global population, developing tools that can be implemented with a higher geographical reach and are less costly than traditional approaches.
Research Project
Yoma is a digital platform that aims to support African youth on a “learning to earning journey” with three impact areas: digital skills, social change & environmental impact. The platform plans to leverage a token economy as part of an incentive system for youth action that tackles social and environmental challenges. The project will use IIASA citizen science apps to encourage measurement and monitoring of youth-led environmental impact initiatives.
Research Project
European biodiversity is in decline, with can impact important natural services, such as pollination, water provisioning or climate mitigation. Our best chance to halt and reverse biodiversity loss are the expansion and more effective management of protected areas and our natural resources, as also stated by European. Existing protection efforts have largely been insufficient to halt biodiversity loss. There is increasing recognition that an implementation of the biodiversity policies needs adequate planning in an informed decision making process to identify which areas are best to conserve, improved in management or be restored.
INSPIRE will support Member States in making decisions on how to address some of the objectives of the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, such as the expansion of the Natura 2000 network, to achieve the 30% protection/ 10% strict protection targets, or how to best integrate biodiversity conservation into other sectors under current policy priorities (e.g., Green Deal, CAP, CFP, and other sectoral Directives).
Research Project
Forest restoration has high-level political support: the UN declared 2021-2030 the decade of restoration, and governments have committed to restore 350 million ha of forest by 2030 under the Bonn Challenge. However, there is strong debate about where and how restoration should take place, and what benefits forest restoration could provide for carbon sequestration and storage, biodiversity, and people’s livelihoods.
Research Project
The FireLinks COST Action, also known as "Fire in the Earth System: Science & Society," aims to establish a robust and interconnected network of scientists and practitioners dedicated to forest fire research and land management. The project brings together experts from various disciplines, including fire dynamics, fire risk management, fire effects on vegetation, fauna, soil, and water, as well as socio-economic, historical, geographical, political perception, and land management approaches.
Research Project
Even though Africa is home to some of the best renewable resources on the planet, almost half of the continent's population does not have access to modern energy. The project OpenMod4Africa will support providing access to clean, affordable energy to everyone by creating an open modelling toolbox for long-term energy transition pathways for Africa.
Research Project
Climate change (CC) is undeniably responsible for the increase in climate-related disasters affecting Alpine communities. These phenomena are often the result of compound events, a combination of multiple climate-related hazards that contribute to socio-ecological risks. One of the key drivers of the increased vulnerability are changes in forest ecosystems.
Forests provide essential ecosystem services that support human well-being and play a critical role in the mitigation of CC, but their health and stability are also threatened by CC.
Therefore, MOSAIC focuses on hazard-resilient and sustainable protective forest management coping with climate changes’ multiple dimensions, which is essential for managing climate-related risks. In order to support regional and Alpine climate action plans, the project aims to collect, harmonize and share data, models on Alpine climate-related disasters and trends. The project partners strive to raise awareness among foresters, risk managers, decision makers and the public through an Alpine network of forest living labs.
Research Project
Coal, the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel, is a major contributor to anthropogenic carbon emissions and climate change. Coal mining and combustion are also a leading cause for premature mortality due to local air pollution. On the other hand, coal is also central to many regional and local economies that rely on its mining, transportation, energy production and exports. With changing climate and rapidly depleting carbon budgets, the urgency for coal phase-out has become more prominent and many regional economies are under pressure to transition away from coal in a time bound manner.